World’s most powerful DC data center wins energy efficiency award

The facility earned the Watt d’Or award for the scale of the energy savings achieved through the pioneering use of DC technology. ABB, HP and Green, one of the top information and communications technology (ITC) service providers in Switzerland, opened the data center last year.

The data center is "an international showcase for Swiss clean technology, as it uses high-voltage direct current technology from Swiss company ABB," the Swiss Federal Office of Energy said in a statement. "Thanks to the elimination of losses from current transformations and waste heat, it uses 20 percent less electricity and sets new standards."

ABB installed the one megawatt DC power distribution solution for the 1,100 m2 expansion of Green’s Zurich-West data center. The project underlines ABB’s goal to create new power options through expanded DC applications.

ABB pioneered technologies that made conversion between AC and DC systems possible and was the first to commercialize long distance high-voltage DC power transmission. ABB is now applying DC to medium- and low-voltage applications in electric vehicle charging, power distribution systems on ships, in building and in data centers.